USS Shamrock and the Bombardment of Plymouth, North Carolina

USS Shamrock was launched on St. Patrick’s Day, 1863, at New York Navy Yard with a crowd of over 5,000 watching.

The New York times reported that from a platform dressed in American flags and sprigs of green, Miss Sallie Bryant broke a bottle of wine on Shamrock’s bow, and declared, “In honor of the loyal Irish, on this their festal day, we dedicate this ship to the Lord of the wind and waves, and call her Shamrock.”

Shamrock was a sidewheel gunboat of the Sassacus-class.  These shallow draft, double ended gunboats were built for operations on rivers and in coastal waters.  With twenty-eight ships, the Sassacus class was the largest class of ships built for the US Navy until the 20th Century. Around 1,100 tons displacement, the ships were 236 feet long and 35 feet on the beam.   They were wooden hulled, but the pilot houses were armored against small arms fire.  

Although they carried a schooner rig, they were primarily steamers, and their machinery could propel them at more than 12 knots - some reached 14.

The Sassacus-class gunboats carried two 100-Pounder Parrott Rifles, one on each end mounted on a pivot carriage which allowed them to fire on either broadside.  They also carried four 9-Inch Inch Dahlgren smoothbores - two of these were mounted on each broadside with one forward and one aft of the paddle box.  Additionally, four boat howitzers were carried, usually mounted on the upper deck to provide defense against small boats or troops ashore.

USS Shamrock commissioned at New York on June 13th, 1864 under Commander William H. Macomb.

The ship was named to honor and celebrate the Irish soldiers and sailors who were fighting for the Union.  And Navy Secretary Gideon Welles ordered that she be launched on St. Patricks Day to underline that point.

Irish-born sailors are said to have constituted about 20% of the US Navy during the American Civil War.  A quick review of Shamrock’s muster book shows over a quarter of her initial crew declared that they had been born in Ireland, and, of course, still others were likely to have been born to Irish families in the United States.

On June 20th, USS Shamrock entered Albemarle Sound in North Carolina where she joined the squadron of other gunboats guarding against the Confederate Ironclad Ram CSS Albemarle.  The US Navy squadron had twice fought CSS Albemarle - in the first battle USS Southfield was rammed and sunk by Albemarle, and in the second battle the US Navy squadron of unarmored gunboats had fought Albemarle to a draw - USS Sassacus rammed Albemarle in that fight - though without doing major damage to the Rebel ram.

For four months, USS Shamrock served on the sound - until a plan was hatched by Lt.  William B. Cushing to destroy Albemarle in a raid using a spar-torpedo mounted on a small boat.

USS Shamrock served as the “mothership” for Cushing’s Picket Boat Number 1, and on the night of October 27th, 1864,  Cushing’s boat towed one of Shamrock’s cutters with eleven sailors from Shamrock up the Roanoke River.  Shamrock’s boat crew was to board the wreck of USS Southfield and eliminate any Confederate sentries there.

Cushing’s attack succeeded -and though he managed to escape, most of those who were in the picket boat with him did not.

The Capture of Plymouth, North Carolina, October 31, 1864 Line engraving published in Harper's Weekly, December 1864. via Naval History and Heritage Command

On October 30th, 1864 USS Shamrock led a squadron of US Navy Gunboats in an attack on Plymouth, North Carolina. Commander Macomb, the senior officer of the squadron, determined on the 29th that the wreck of Albemarle and the obstructions placed in the Roanoke River would prevent his force from reaching Plymouth. However, he was informed that there was enough water in the Middle River for his ships to make it upstream of Plymouth and attack the city's defenses from that direction.

USS Shamrock's bombardment of Plymouth began even before she had left the Middle River, Commander Macomb writing that "we fired by compass courses, over the woods at Plymouth, at distances varying from 2,640 to 1,700 yards, and I have since learned that our fire was very effective." Reaching the Roanoke River upstream of Plymouth late in the afternoon of the 30th, USS Shamrock proceeded to bombard the batteries defending Plymouth.

“Early in the morning of the 31st ultimo, having determined on attacking the batteries, I sent a tug for the Commodore Hull and commenced preparations for the action. At about 8am the Commodore Hull arrived, and I stationed her at the head of the line as before, on account of her ability to fire directly ahead. At about 9am the USS Whitehead came up the Middle River with stores for the vessels in Albemarle Sound from the naval depot at New Berne. As her 100-Pounder Parrott had been taken out, I had her lashed alongside the Tacony, the Bazely being lashed to the Shamrock and the Belle to the Otaego (all on the port side) to keep the vessels in motion in case their engines should be damaged. We also had the steam blown off the starboard boilers of the double-enders, the fires banked very low beneath them, and the stop valve between the two boilers of each ship closed; so that there was no steam in the starboard boilers, but the water in them bein warm, it could be got up in a short time.

At 9:30am, the vessels being in line, I signaled to the Commodore Hull to run ahead and reconnoiter and ascertain if the channel was clear. She reported all right, and I got underway, signaling the other vessels to follow in close order. The enemy opened fire as soon as we came within range and kept up a constant and very heavy fire, directed principally against the Commodore Hull and the Shamrock. As I neared the batteries I gave the order, "Go ahead fast," and we were soon directly opposite the enemy's guns, when he was driven from his rifle pits and fieldpieces by grape and canister from the ships, which we poured in very heavily. The batteries still held out, though their fire began to be wild, but as Shamrock passed them one of her shells exploded in their magazine, which blew up with great force, some of the fragments falling on our decks. This evidently caused a panic among the rebels, for from that time their fire slackened and at length ceased altogether. I then made the signal to cease firing, and then to land and take possession of the batteries, which was done without resistance. A party from this ship under Lieutenant Duer marched into the lower works (we having by this time passed the town and arrived opposite them), took about a dozen prisoners, and spiked the guns to prevent the enemy from firing on the vessels should they return to their batteries. (Official Records - Navies. Series 1. Volume 11. Pg. 14.)

After the capture of Plymouth, Commander Macomb and USS Shamrock were placed in charge of raising the sunken Albemarle, which was eventually accomplished on March 20th, 1865.

One of Albemarle’s guns is kept as a trophy at Naval Station Norfolk - a direct connection to Shamrock!

After the Civil War, Shamrock was one of the first ships to serve on the reestablished West Indies Station.

In 1867, she was sent across the Atlantic to serve on the European Squadron under Admiral David Farragut - no mean feat for a gunboat designed to serve on rivers!

In the summer of 1868 she returned to the United States and decommissioned at Philadelphia.

USS Shamrock was - and is - a ship which honored Irish soldiers and sailors of the United States.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

USS Mendota at Deep Bottom. A sister ship of USS Shamrock, Mendota carried a similar armament. (Being on the James River, Mendota is one of the better photographed vessels of the war.) Note the 24-Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzers mounted port and starboard just aft of the side wheel. I think there are 20-Pounder Parrotts mounted forward of the wheel in a similar position. Detail from Library of Congress Photo: https://www.loc.gov/item/2018666839/

Photo: The Roanoke River looking downstream from Plymouth, North Carolina